Recently I came across a website and thought it was one of the best sites I had ever seen. So I said to one of my good friends, “you have got to see this site…it’s one of the coolest I’ve seen in a long time!” I gave her the url and told her to check it out. Since I was so excited, she said she would take a look at it out right away. I was shocked when she called me back with her opinion of the site. “Marie, did you give me the wrong address? This site is terrible! I couldn’t even get through it because it kept crashing my computer with some big graphic image on the home page and then I finally got to the services page and there was no copy telling me about the company. Just a bunch of pictures. I really didn’t like it at all.” “Wow,” was all I could say.
This “big graphic image” was the coolest flash I had ever seen. And all “these photos” on the services pages were perhaps some of the best animation work I had also seen in a long time. And,“ crashing her computer?” Does dial up still exist? Oh my. As a web designer, this has really given me a lot to think about. How could I think this was the best site in the world (next to mine, of course) and she hated it? After thinking about it, I remembered reading somewhere that a fundamental truth about all advertising, whether print, broadcast or on-line, is that it must elicit audience awareness and involvement, as well as influence attitudes and causes desired behavior.
This site obviously did not achieve this with my friend. It was obvious who ever created this website did not take into consideration consumers’ needs, wants or motivations. This brings up a good point you should consider when building your site — not everyone responds the same way. Some people are visual — they tend to see the world in pictures; they achieve their greatest sense of power by tapping into the visual part f their brain. These people believe graphics should accurately convey who you are and what you represent in a visually appealing fashion and really don’t care much about the content on your site.People who are auditory tend to be more selective about the words they use. These people are attracted to copy and your elaborate graphic and flashy designs will only get you so far. These folks are looking for some substance and informative content. If you are going to effectively reach a broad range of consumers in this new world of technology, I suggest you take into consideration these old-world psychology tips. Contact us and we can help develop your Internet strategy and your website!